Karr: 'I've never harmed a child'

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- John Mark Karr, the former suspect in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey, never confessed to anything, he told CNN in an exclusive interview.

In an interview recorded for CNN's "Larry King Live," Karr said that he is not facing charges in the United States or in Thailand, where he was detained in August in connection with the Ramsey case. But he said his attorneys had told him not to discuss the case or any other investigations he was involved in.

"In all honestly, at this point I'm possibly a target for law enforcement to just keep their eye on," Karr said. "I welcome them to because I'm just going to be with my dad and relaxing with my family and they're welcome to look." (Watch Karr describe the media crush in Thailand -- 2:17)

Karr was released from jail earlier this month after a California judge dismissed child pornography charges against him because authorities lost the computer that allegedly held pornographic images.

The Ramsey murder case has been a mystery since the 6-year-old girl's beaten and strangled body was found December 26, 1996, in the basement of her parents' home.

"I am saying that I've never harmed a child, I'm saying it now, I'm saying that I would protect any child who I thought was being harmed," Karr said. "I don't recall ever saying that I did harm a child."

Authorities focused on Karr after tracing a series of e-mails he sent to a University of Colorado journalism professor, who produced a documentary on the case.

After his detention in Thailand, Karr told reporters "I loved JonBenet, and she died accidentally."

Asked then if he was an innocent man, Karr replied, "No."

Karr said his experience with the Thai media was chaotic and scary, but he would not say why he apparently implicated himself in the killing.

"When I walked into the area to meet the cameras it was just a wall of photographers. I was told later it was 150 photographers in this little tiny area," he said. "It was a wall and they were all together and they just started snapping and then all of the sudden the wall started to just become a wave and it just started coming toward us."

He said that authorities grabbed him and ran away from the photographers, who were hitting each other with their cameras and smacking police with their microphones.

Karr said that the media scrutiny has been painful and that he's looking forward to moving back to Atlanta, Georgia, to spend more time with his 85-year-old father.

He said he might return to teaching, but that he's not interested in doing that right now.

"I've just got to live my life, this attention is negative, it's not something you want," Karr said.